The present invention relates generally to wireless local area network systems and more particularly to a distribution network for coupling wireless local area network signals between centrally located internetworking devices and remotely located access points.
The most common user applications for personal computers now require a connection to a computer network of some type. Such applications include the viewing of e-mail, sharing of data files, and accessing the Internet and the World Wide Web. Various techniques are used for connecting computers together so that they may send data to and receive data from each other, more or less in real time. Most often this so-called physical layer is implemented using wires and the bits of data to be exchanged are converted into electrical signals that move through the wires. Traditionally, local area networks (LANs) were implemented using privately installed wiring, such as coaxial cable or twisted pair type cable and network adapter circuits. Later, it became possible to construct LANs through the use of the public switched telephone network and modem equipment.
However, networks that use infrared light or radio frequency energy at the physical layer are growing in popularity. These so-called wireless local area networks (“wireless LANs”) convert the bits of data into radio waves to enable their transmission over the air, which in turn minimizes the need for hard wired connections.
Wireless LANs have tended to find application where user mobility and portability is important, such as in the healthcare, retail, manufacturing, and warehousing industries. This limited use has no doubt been the result of the added cost of the required wireless network adapters. However, they are also becoming more widely recognized as a general purpose alternative for a broad range of business applications as the cost of mobile computing equipment such as laptop computers and personal digital assistants (PDAs) continues to decrease. With a wireless LAN, users can access shared information without first stopping to find a place to plug-in their equipment. In addition, network managers can set up or augment such networks without installing or moving wires around from place to place.
The simplest wireless LAN configuration is an independent type network that connects a set of computers with wireless adapters. Anytime any two or more of the wireless adapters are within radio range of one another, they can set up a network. More common is a type of multi-user LAN wherein multiple devices referred to as access points collect signals at a central location. The access points collect signals transmitted from personal computers equipped with wireless network adapters, and distribute them over wire physical media to other internetworking devices such as repeaters (hubs), bridges, routers, and gateways, to provide interconnectivity to larger networks.
The range of a wireless LAN is limited by how far the signals can travel over the air between the access points and the network adapters connected to the PCs. Currently, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 wireless LAN standard, which is the most widely used, specifies power output levels which carry signals over a few hundred feet.
To extend coverage beyond this limited range, a network of access points with overlapping radio ranges must be located throughout the desired coverage area. These so-called infrastructure wireless LANs are implemented in a manner which is similar to a cellular telephone system. At any given time, a mobile personal computer equipped with a wireless LAN adapter communicates with a single access point within the current microcell within which it is located. On the landline side, the access points are interconnected using network-compatible twisted pair wiring such as that which is compliant with the Ethernet/802.3 10baseT or 100baseT standard. The network signals can then be further forwarded to a local- or wide-area network using standard internetworking protocols and devices.